Lesbian travel writer talks about privilege

Meg Ten Eyck, the 28-year-old queer writer and editor behind the successful lesbian travel blog Dopes on the Road, uses multiple platforms to address the LGBT elephant in the room: privilege. This is not to be confused with heteronormative privilege, but that which exists in our own community.

In her YouTube debut, Ten Eyck states, “I’m pretty lucky, honestly: I work really, really hard, and I have a lot of privilege. I’m white, I’m gender conforming, I’m college educated, and I came of age in New York City.”

While working as an LGBT activist, Ten Eyck made a life-changing decision to live abroad.

“My world [had]become so small and so narrow. I actually remember sitting at my desk one day and thinking about it…I didn’t have any straight friends. My work was gay. My life was gay.”

After exploring different avenues, Meg began working as an English instructor in South Korea, where she discovered her passion for blogging. Living abroad inspired her to speak on global issues and connect with like-minded individuals who may not necessarily identify as queer.

Launched in 2013, Dopes on the Road has won several awards, including “Best LGBT Blog in Korea.” The site delivers unique content including (but not limited) to travel guides, sex tips, and fashion advice for femmes.

Femme visibility is another one of Ten Eyck’s passions; her travel journals focusing on vulnerable issues such as growing up poor are particularly strong, and she also introduces readers to LGBT trailblazers. Most recently, in the Queers You Should Know section of her blog, she praises single parent and Down Syndrome advocate Jaime Harman.

As she points out, the roulette of life is no one’s fault. As children, we have no control over how we’re brought up: some of us are enrolled in prestigious schools with close to 100% college acceptance rates, while others sit in packed classrooms with outdated textbooks. Some of us spend summer vacation in Paris, while others watch younger siblings to support a struggling single parent.

But after we’re all grown up, remaining silent on an issue that divides LGBT people contradicts the vision for inclusivity we have for the rest of the world.

Ten Eyck is currently writing a workbook for trip planning, scheduled to be published in spring 2016. As she exemplifies, the first step can be in any direction—as long it it’s out of your comfort zone.

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